50 years ago, John Coltrane recorded 'A Love Supreme' in Englewood Cliffs
John Coltrane recorded his milestone album "A Love Supreme" in December 1964 at Van Gelder Studio in
Englewood Cliffs. (Chuck Stewart)
By Tom Wilk
on November 25, 2014 at 7:00 AM, updated November 25, 2014 at 7:11 AM
IN ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas on the evening of Dec. 9, 1964. Amid Santa displays and nativity scenes, holiday lights festooned homes to create a festive atmosphere in the small Bergen County borough.
After a day of work and school, residents settled in for a night of television. Among their choices were the musical-variety series “Shindig!” featuring Chubby Checker and the British band Manfred Mann, and “The Danny Kaye Show,” with guest star Tony Bennett.
Inside his recording studio on Sylvan Avenue, engineer Rudy Van Gelder was focusing on a different type of music — jazz — as saxophonist John Coltrane and his three-piece supporting band set up for a recording session with producer Bob Thiele. Before the night ended, Coltrane would create “A Love Supreme,” a milestone recording in the history of jazz whose themes of spiritual rebirth and uplift fit in with the hope and optimism of the holiday season.
John Coltrane, photographed in the Van Gelder Studio with wife
Alice, completed "A Love Supreme" in about four hours.
(Chuck Stewart)
“A Love Supreme,” released in early 1965, is presented as a suite in four parts: “Acknowledgement,” “Resolution,” “Pursuance” and “Psalm.” Led by Coltrane’s tenor saxophone, the music is, by turns, soaring and solemn, soulful and searching. The album clocks in at just under 33 minutes.
In his 2008 book, “1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die,” Tom Moon, a Haddonfield resident, saxophonist and recording artist, calls “A Love Supreme” “devotional music of the highest order ... which aims to brings listeners to a higher state.”
“A Love Supreme” was a key part of Coltrane’s spiritual journey after overcoming problems with drug and alcohol abuse. “During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening, which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life,” the saxophonist, then 38, wrote in the album’s liner notes. “At the time, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music. This album is a humble offering to HIM.”
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